TALLAHASSEE — Second lady Karen Pence unveiled an initiative Wednesday to promote art therapy treatment and education at Florida State University, which has one of the oldest art- therapy programs in the country.

Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, said she was inspired by her experiences while visiting people who benefit from art therapy.

“From children with cancer, to struggling teens, to grieving families, to people with autism, to military service members experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, to those with eating disorders, art therapy is changing lives,” she said.

Pence added that her main goals are to promote public awareness of art therapy as a “mental health profession, and not arts and crafts,” and tout it as a viable career path for students. She plans to highlight such therapy programs throughout the country and advocate for more research regarding the practice.

“Unfortunately, art therapy is not well known, but I hope to change that,” she said.

It is under-the-radar enough that only 12 states license art therapists. That’s something the American Art Therapy Association is trying to change by promoting bills to license the practice in more states, including Florida. Bills last year to license music therapists and open art therapy up to veterans with PTSD failed to gain traction in the Legislature.

“Art therapy is a regulated mental health profession that enables people to express themselves through the creative process, especially when words fail them,” said AATA president Donna Betts. “Second lady Mrs. Karen Pence’s initiative is a gift to all Americans and will enrich the profession so that more people can be helped and more lives can be improved by the power of art therapy.”

FSU’s art therapy program is 30 years old, and one of only five in the country to offer a doctoral degree in the discipline.